Movie Review-The Hole

THE HOLE will be available on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD on Tuesday, October 2, 2012.

Plot-A pair of brothers, whose family moves into a new home, discovers in the garage that there is a hole that is locked up and sealed. They decide to open it up and notices it has no bottom to it, the whole time they seem to have freed a darkness that preys upon their fears, along with the girl next door will they be able to figure out what is truly in that never ending hole or will they become victims of what they let out?

Review-Talk about a pleasant surprise, I had little to no expectations and the rumors of how long this film was shelved had me worried about watching it. That being said, this film was really a fun film. I would say it felt like reading a kid horror story, if it was not for a few cuss words here and there, I would say this film would be perfect for all ages. The horror in this film felt like Twilight Zone and maybe Poltergeist. You got the possessed clown puppet that only the youngest boy can see at first, who tries to get him. Then, you have the ghost little girl and a spirit of what one son will call his boogeyman which also touched on another subject that I was shocked that the film covered. This film covers a lot of topics that I feel added to the film, it made the kids seem innocent and vulnerable. That is the one thing that I liked the most about this film, was the innocence of the characters and material, Joe Dante realizes Rome is not built in a day and made everything simple and realistic.

The film has Bruce Dern playing the person who lived in the house before the boys moved in, and comes across as the local kook. Teri Polo plays the boys single mom, who is always at work and of course is so blind to what is going on with the boys and this hole they discovered. The adult actors in this film felt more like a background piece, the film was really about the two boys and the little girl next door that really shine and really sell us on the fear they are trying to get across. This film really creates such a tension at times with doing nothing else but giving us a camera angle that we become paranoid about what could be coming. My negatives are the language, this film is clearly geared towards kids and the 3 or 4 cuss words are really not something I would let my 8 year old niece watch, even though she would love this film. I think also for young kids if you do not mind them hearing cussing has some material that is question worthy and will raise dinner talk. Other than that this film was a really fun little fairy tale in the vein of Goosebumps. I think adults will like it and recall childhood fears, and those first time horror kids would want to test the waters with this and see how this plays with them, then go into more extreme territory. All in all, I recommend this.